“That’s what Amelia said,” Raven finished, putting her arms back down after having gestured wildly while she filled Elisha in on the conversation they’d had last night. “She’s at the store picking up some of those little chocolates that she hides in the really low cupboard where Forsythe can’t find them. When she gets back, she’s going to log in at about 1700 game time. She’s going to try and get Vienne to taxi her back.

Raven leaned back in her chair and stared down at the lightscreen. She could have propped it up but there was something about leaning over the tablet sized screen that made her more comfortable. Looking at Elisha on the big lightscreen in the living room was a little uncomfortable. Made her feel like she was a peon and Elisha was her boss.

Elisha winced, having just had a sip of caf from a mug while she listened to Raven fill her in on the latest gossip.

“That bad?” Raven grimaced.

“Hmm? No, I just got the last dregs of the bean water at the bottom of my cup.” Elisha put the cup down and smiled, a tired look coloring the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry Raven, I am listening. I’m thinking. I had a long night.”

Raven smirked. “I know.”

“You know?” Elisha looked at her quizzically. “I didn’t realize you were. We could have used you and your crazy strong self at the front.”

“Oh, I wasn’t there. The whole thing got streamed by MKC Online.” Raven’s smile started to turn evil. By the way Elisha was staring at her uncomprehendingly, Raven guessed that she hadn’t seen any footage yet. Raven sensed weakness. She felt butterflies in her stomach as the prank formed in her head.

“Oh!” Elisha frowned, and then nodded her head after a moment as if that made sense. Her curls, much longer and blonder than they used to be, bobbed in that way they did when she nodded, giving the illusion that they were nodding along with Elisha. “That makes sense. I absolutely forgot that MKC Online would be streaming that event. They probably got a lot of footage from the parents.” Elisha started to lift her caf cup again but winced when she realized it was empty.

“It was pretty neat.” Raven agreed slowly, starting to look off to the side in an innocent sort of way. Be cool. “Like watching a school of fish being herded by sharks…”

Elisha started to smirk a bit. “Yeah, hahaha, good times.”

“Khiafin looking depressed was the cherry on top of the ice cream.” Raven started to look back at the screen. Act casual.

“He was such a whiner the whole time. You’d think I was ruining his life.” Elisha grumbled, and then her eyes brightened with sudden gleeful malice. “If he thinks that was bad, just wait.”

“There was some pretty good screenshot availability, too. Do you want to see my favorite?” Raven smiled, reaching down before Elisha could answer to start prepping a screen share.

“Yeah, go ahead. Bonus points if you’ve got Mom stabbing someone in the face while looking over her shoulder with that creepy ‘I’m in love’ smile at Dad.” Elisha chuckled.

Raven shook her head. “No one needs that. Here take a look.”

Elisha leaned in with a grin, expecting some sort of strange screenshot at the expense of someone she knew. Her eyes scanned up the length of her own body where she stood next to Khiafin with a half-smirk, hands on her hips. The image fluctuated for a moment and showed her throwing her head back in the timeless pose of a villain laughing at the plight of the heroes. “Oh no. No, Raven, no. Please tell me you didn’t. That they didn’t. That I w-wasn’t.”

Raven smiled sweetly. “Wasn’t what?”

Elisha slowly covered her face in her hands, looking the moving image over with a great deal more scrutiny. A red blush pushed all the way from her neck to the top of her head and then began to deepen in hue. A small choked noise escaped her mouth before she finally hid her hands in her face. “OH NO. This was what they showed on MKC isn’t it? Just because I was giving direction?!”

“Elisha,” Raven said seriously, managing to get Elisha to stop hiding behind her hands for a moment. “You’re famous now. There’s a whole sub-forum with these pictures and people editing them to give you crowns, red-eyes, weird clothes --” Elisha hid her face again and started to groan. “--and fan fic. Like, so much fan fic. Girl. You are the evil Imperial Princess. Respect.”

“IHATEYOUSOMUCHRAVEN--” Elisha threw her hands up looking exasperatedly at the ceiling.

Delicious, thought Raven. “Yes, my Princess. What are your orders?”

Elisha reached out with her hands and pursed her lips, eyes narrowing as she pretended to strangle Raven through the connection. “ARRRRGGGGHHH.”

Raven immediately made her eyes go wide and grabbed at her throat, faking a choking noise. “Uck. Uck… Elisha… Please… Give me a chance… to waste… your enemies!”

Elisha’s face was absolute doom as she slowly lowered her hand.

Raven sagged against the table in mock relief.

“You had better not fail me. Admiral Raven.” Elisha reached down and the screen went blank as she terminated the connection.

Raven sat up for a moment, trying to figure out if she’d been promoted or demoted. “Huh.”

Before she could get too involved in the hierarchy of rank, Elisha sent her a simple text.

I disagree with Amelia. Let’s spill to MKC Online that she’s returning. Tell MKC Online the correct time of her breakout attempt and give them Keristrazly Plaza as the location. Hahah. I just had a really great idea. It’s need to know though. Please tell Amelia to set it up.

Raven stared at the text with a look of growing admiration. “Man, you are scary.”

Raven looked at her tablet and tried to decide what to do. Elisha had sort of just told her to tell Amelia what to do, and Raven didn’t really like that idea. Then again, she was an Admiral now. Raven decided to divest herself from responsibility and phrase Elisha’s order as a request. Humming to herself happily she pulled up Amelia’s name on her tablet light screen and hit the call button.

“Yes?” Amelia showed up for a moment, seemingly realizing that her camera was on just as she was stuffing a chocolate into her mouth. Moments later the screen went dark. “Ahem, I mean, hello!”

“Hi Amelia,” Raven said in a singsong voice. “Totally didn’t see the chocolate there --”

“Thanks.”

“--and just called to let you know I talked to Elisha. She wants you to call MKC Online and let them know when you’re breaking out. I think she has some plan that will probably destroy the rebellion or something. I’m not big on the details but she’s been super big-time villain lately and it’s need to know.”

“You don’t need to know?” Amelia sounded surprised.

Raven frowned, a nugget of doubt forming in her head. Amelia asked good questions sometimes. “Well, it must not be that great of a plan. I’m an Admiral. If it was a huge deal then of course I would have to be involved…”

“She’s probably just keeping it from us for operational security.” Amelia said, a hint of teasing in her voice.

“I’m secure!” Raven burst out. “Let me call you back, I need to get some answers!”

“Raven, it’s fine. She probably just had the idea and hasn’t worked through it yet.” Amelia assured. “I’ll let MKC Online know and see what they want to do. She’s probably right. Besides, they might as well stream me so that if I don’t manage it everyone can have a good chuckle at my expense.”

“Mmm.” Raven squinted. “Just when I think Elisha is the mastermind, I sense that you are trying to divide us. And it is working.”

“Were you half-heartedly scheming to supplant me with Elisha and be her evil second in command or something?” Amelia asked, sounding more amused by the second.

“No way,” Raven lied.

“Okay. Well if that did come to pass, I would imagine that there would still be a place for me in the evil hierarchy?”

“Of course!” Raven said, before hurriedly adding. “Which it won’t. Come to pass. I mean.”

“Goodbye, Admiral.”

“Love you Patrick!”

Amelia looked around to see if anyone on the bus had heard her crazy spiel. Satisfied that everyone was doing their best to stare at their tablets, games, or other entertainment in a desperate bid to avoid social interaction, she popped another chocolate into her mouth. She rubbed the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand then let out a long sigh as she pulled up the line for MKC Online.

“Elias,” barked the strong male voice. Moments later some baby babble also came through. “Eriaasss!’

Amelia stared blankly for a moment, and then couldn’t help herself. “We are a powerful and elite group, feared throughout VR, the media, and the gaming industry.”

“Oh, it’s Amelia.” Elias said, sounding less excited than she would have thought. “What do you want?”